


One Step Forward, Two Steps Back (Drarry AU)

by Alex_Wolfstar



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst and Fluff and Smut, Corrections of deaths, Denial of Feelings, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Post Second Wizarding War, another universe
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-08
Updated: 2019-04-29
Packaged: 2019-10-24 14:15:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 21,712
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17705819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alex_Wolfstar/pseuds/Alex_Wolfstar
Summary: "Old habits die hard" - a fact Harry is very well aware of.





	1. Summertime, Ropes and the Talk

**Author's Note:**

> ATTENTION:
> 
> THIS IS IMPROVED AND REWRITTEN WORK OF MINE THAT WENT BY THE NAME OF "Gorgeous (Drarry AU) 
> 
> I do apologize in advance for the poor choice of words, and terrible grammar  
> I AM NOT NATIVE ENGLISH SPEAKER 
> 
> I hope you will enjoy reading this story half as much as I am enjoying writing it.  
> Feel free to give me some feedback, you can also find this story on Wattpad

This has been officially their first real family-like summer, and Harry isn't too sure it was fun and successful as Remus likes to point out, it was eventful but certainly not fun, at least not for Harry. Sirius was pissy most of the time and he would have taken it all on Harry who didn't do anything wrong. And Remus was just there sipping his tea with his nose dug into his precious books, every now and then correcting one of the two. At one-point very frustrated and annoyed Sirius threw a vase at Remus who caught it with a cheeky smile while adding "Werewolf reflexes, babe" to which Harry didn't know if he wants to puke or awe at them.

Harry still feels weird with this whole Remus-Sirius thing, but he likes to think he is getting used to it. He even started liking having his breakfast made by Remus who puts way too many spices in everything and burns most of it as well. But, he is for sure better cook than Sirius. Sirius managed to burn two pots in an attempt to brew some coffee and since then he has been officially removed from the kitchen. Remus even bought a dark wooden sign with white letters saying, "NO SIRIUS ALLOWED ANYWHERE NEAR THE KITCHEN" and pinned it on the wall by the kitchen entrance. They all had a good laugh about it and Harry and Remus agreed to mention it every so often. Harry would say that this event has been the highlight of his summer break, but he would be lying.

Sirius, after much mockery, got the itching urge to prove himself useful in any way possible. Since he knows, Harry has lived among the muggles for the first 11 years of his life, and Remus has always preferred living like a muggle, he would have to do something very muggle like. But living first half his life strictly among wizards and wizard families and having almost no contact with muggle world and being imprisoned other half of his life, he had no idea what to do. He wanted to do some housework, but after hours of thinking, he figured he had no idea how one does the cleaning muggle way. And using magic wouldn't prove anything to anyone. Time passed and he had no idea what to do. The end of summer and their break was near and Sirius became more and more frustrated. Until one morning out of sheer luck, while he was walking down the street to buy some bread the muggle way, Sirius's eyes landed on travelling company ad. He took a good look at it and found himself smiling. The next day, while Remus was at Hogwarts and Harry somewhere with Ron and Hermione, Sirius put his plans into action. With great caution, using a muggle phone, he dialled Muggle/Wizarding Mon Ami hotel in Paris and after that the London airport. He was being extra careful not to dial the wrong number. In the end, he booked them 3 tickets to Paris and booked 2 rooms in the best muggle/wizarding hotel in Paris. And three days before the travel, he has presented them his plan. But, he did not get quite the reactions he had hoped for. Remus started laughing like a mad man and Harry just stood there lost for words, since both of them thought that Sirius is either joking or is lying about him doing all of it by himself, since he proved many times, that he knows absolutely nothing about Muggles and the Muggle life. He then showed them the aeroplane tickets to witch Harry lit up like a Christmas tree, and Remus went on apologizing for laughing and ever doubting him. And three days later, fully packed with Remus insisting on taking the most absurd things with them, since you never know what will happen, they took off for Paris.

They've been in Paris for 3 weeks and got back yesterday only to be leaving again in order to attend one of the biggest positive events that had happened to them in a long time. The great Weasley wedding.

The morning of them leaving for Weasley's was a bit rushed since they overslept due to jetlag. From all the running and trying to get ready in time Harry nearly tripped over a pile of bags that were scattered all over their hallway floor.

"Damn baggage!" He yelled at the top of his lungs as he found himself landing in Sirius's hands.

"Language Harry!" Remus yelled from somewhere from the kitchen and both Sirius and Harry laughed.

"You were supped to take those upstairs." Sirius said with a cocked eyebrow and Harry rolled his eyes. Sirius loudly cleared his throat and rushed Harry in the nearest room with doors, it happened to be their storage room. "I know, you've been here with us for just a short amount of time, but I bloody thought you've learned a thing or two about Remus." Harry rolled his eyes and nodded with a sigh.

"Last time I checked you are his husband-to-be, so convince him to change his mind. I've done enough housework for two lives." Sirius put his hands on each of Harry's shoulder and gave them a little squeeze.

"That doesn't mean that you can get as messy as a pig, Harry." Sirius said mimicking Remus's voice, making them both crack up.

"Having fun, boys? Aren't we?" Remus said with cocked eyebrow and arms crossed on his chest.

"I... Erm... He... We... Joking around..." Remus chuckled and shook his head. 

"Like raising two premature kids." And with that Remus left to finish his breakfast. Sirius let out a silent growl.

"I'll pay for that later." He mumbled under his breath and Harry figured, it would be the best to pretend like he hadn't heard anything.

"I'll get ready." Harry said awkwardly and left the room.

Harry got upstairs and plopped down on his bed letting out a very loud frustrated sigh. Why was he all of the sudden frustrated? He doesn't know, or maybe he does but refuses to admit it. There's a thin shadow voice at the back of his head saying the exact reason why, but Harry decided to ignore it and buried it deeper in his mind. With a grin on his face, Harry jumped off his bed and headed straight in the bathroom. After he finished in the bathroom he put on the clothes he wore yesterday and with heavy sigh picked up Hedwig's cage. "Don't look at me like that." Harry said to Hedwig who was looking at Harry and it seemed like she is judging him about pretty much everything he has done in the last couple weeks. Harry sighed and went downstairs where Sirius and Remus were waiting for him.

"Ready Harry?" Remus asked with a smirk on his face and Harry gave a confused look to Sirius who looked like he is about to cry. Harry just shook his head and mumbled silently yes.

"We're using the portkey." Harry nodded and followed Sirius and Remus out of their apartment. They went around the corner and used the portkey.

The moment he spotted him, Ron ran towards Harry. And hugged him tightly, and to Harry, it was all a bit too much, since they've seen each other 2 and a half weeks ago. But, them hugging became like a habit, so Harry simply gave in.

"Hey, Ron."

"Hey, Harry. How was the holiday?" Ron asked with smile and Harry made a face giving a nasty look to Sirius. Harry bit his lip not knowing what to say to him and Ron kept on looking at him with the sparkle in his eyes since this was the first time Harry has ever left England. "It was... erm... Interesting?" He said unsure of his own words since he doesn't like lying all that much.

"Tell me everything!!!" Ron squeaked and started dragging Harry in the house. "MOM!!! THEY ARE HERE!!!" Ron yelled and misses Weasley came rushing to the front door to greet Remus and Sirius, while Ron kept on dragging Harry up to his room.

"How much sugar did you have today?" Harry asked in wonder seeing his best friend so hyped.

"Don't ask." Ron said excitedly, and Harry sighed. "Fred and George came up with some new sweets and I was their lab rat."

"And of course, that role was hard for you to play." Harry sassed at him, but Ron didn't care.

"I'm getting blimey married in two days, so excuse me if I'm..." And with that, Ron stopped walking and looked at Harry like he just saw a giant spider. "I'm getting married." Ron gulped, and Harry rolled his eyes. And, yes, that happened. After the war was over, Hermione and Ron came to the conclusion that they indeed love each other to death. So a couple of weeks later it was Hermione who proposed to Ron. And still after all this time Harry finds himself laughing at the fact that Hermione was the one to propose and not Ron.

"You'll be fine Ron. Besides, it's not like anything will change. She lives here anyway, sleeps in your bed, hangs out with your family. All in all, you were practically married, Ron. It's just going to be a bit more official in two days." Harry said and nodded to himself. Ron nodded knowing Harry is right. "It's your nerves that's all. It's perfectly normal to be nervous." And with that said Ron started walking towards his room once again, with Harry on his hill.

Once they were in Ron's room, Harry plopped down on Ron's bed, while Ron started nervously walking around his room chewing on something that looks like a rope. Harry gave him worried look thinking Ron has actually gone mad.

"It's a never-ending eatable rope, I think. They didn't name it like that I just figured it must be that. Anyways, it's pretty awesome."

"What flavour?" Harry thought that talking about anything, but the wedding will somehow calm his nerves.

"I don't know. I think it changes from time to time, or something. Like now I taste the milk and lucky charms, and earlier today I was sure it was apple. So, beats me. Want some?" Ron asked as he pulled three more ropes out of his pocket. Harry took a moment to think whether he will take it or not. In the end, he decided it would probably not kill him. Harry took a good look at the rainbow rope he is holding in his hand and put it in his mouth. He made a disgusting face since it tasted like some sort of showering gel or something like that.

"You sure this is safe?"

"Why? What flavour did you get?"

"Soapy, terrible soupy flavour. I know I know it." Harry spat the rope out of his mouth and Ron shrugged it off since he didn't get that one yet. Harry looked at the rope in wonder and gave it one more try, he spits the rope out of his mouth since it remained soapy. "I think this one doesn't work properly." Ron didn't even listen to him and Harry sighed. He stood up and took another rope that Ron placed on his working table. Harry put it in his mouth and the moment it reached his mouth, he yanked it out and threw it across the room, spitting out a very colourful curse, since it was soap again. Ron still didn't show any signs of being aware of his surroundings. 

"About your vacation." Ron said all of a sudden as he kept on walking around the room like a mad man. He stopped to look at Harry. Harry sighed.

"Right. Mostly I was bickering with Sirius about stupid things, apparently, him not shifting into a dog is far more frustrating and dangerous than it is for Remus. And Remus, well he was trying to stay as calm as possible. That was pretty much it."

"Oh, come on. You were in blimey Paris, Harry. PARIS!!!" Ron yelled in excitement and Harry sighed.

"I saw someone who looked like Malfoy at the Eiffel Tower." Harry said with look and shivers going through his body at the thought of that name, and him too. He wasn't sure why he said that, since he really didn't want to talk about him or even think about him. Plus it was pretty much one big lie since Harry saw exactly him and he knew it, since he talked to him. But, anything that will keep Ron's mind off the wedding is a good thing, Harry guessed.

"Malfoy?!" Ron squeaked.

"Someone who looked like him, Ron." Harry lied hoping Ron wouldn't notice.

"You are a terrible storyteller, Harry. I'll just ask professor Lupin or something." Ron pouted since he expected more of Harry. After that, both went completely silent. Ron was nervously chewing his rope and thinking about all the disasters that could happen at the wedding, while Harry stared at the ceiling, not paying much attention to Ron since his walking up and down made Harry dizzy. Harry was just hoping to avoid Ginny as much as possible since they pretty much broke up and didn't talk after that. And just like someone read his mind and made his thoughts come to live, there was a knock on the door.

"Can we talk, Harry?" It was none other than Ginny, looking as flawless and as beautiful as ever. Harry inhaled deeply trying to calm his nerves. He just nodded before standing up from the bed and looking worriedly at Ron. "He'll be fine." She said, and Harry once again nodded, before leaving the room. "Let's take a walk," Ginny said, and Harry didn't know what to do or expect from this so-called walk. They went for a walk in the cornfield.

They were walking for some time in complete silence when Harry started thinking that maybe she wanted him to talk.

"Erm, was I supposed to say something?" Harry asked in a shaky voice and Ginny sighed.

"No, Harry. I need to say something. I owe you an explanation." Ginny said in a small voice as she stopped walking and looked at Harry. "I broke up with you because you don't feel the same type of love for me as I do for you. And you are too much of a good soul to do anything. It wasn't fair to you, so I've ended it, instead of you. I was trying to put it all together to figure out myself. That is why we haven't spoken for so long. I came to the conclusion that I might have been obsessed with you, and not in love with you. So, what I'm trying to say is that there is nothing that would make me happier than you being my friend once again." She said with a smile on her face. Harry let out a breath he didn't know was holding in.

"I'd be delightful to be your friend." He didn't know what else to say since he doesn't know what he feels for anyone these days. She shrieked and pressed one wet kiss to Harry's left cheek before skipping off in the direction they came from.

Harry sighed and pulled his hair in frustration. He really needs to come clean with his emotions. He fell to his knees without bothering about the mud staining his jeans. He is 19 for crying out loud and he still doesn't understand his own feelings. And it all started with him. All of this is his fault. If only they have never acknowledged each other in Paris.


	2. An Accident, the Mask and The Wedding

The wedding day has finally arrived, for some, it took too long and some wouldn't mind waiting a bit longer. But the day came, whether they like it or not. The moment many have been waiting in pure anticipation and agony, wondering what will happen and if it will happen. There were even some bets involved on whether Ron will chicken out or not. And of course, the twins took their chance on making some quick money out of this rather fishy situation. And no one could stop them, mainly because not a single person who mattered didn't know about their little doing. That's why they were the first ones to wake up every morning after the engagement to check on their younger brother and to come up with one more master plan. 

Today was supposed to be no exception. And it wasn't when it came to that part. George and Fred got up even earlier than usual and did their normal morning routine of showering, dressing and then drinking coffee in their small kitchen. Fred makes coffee since George is forever banned from the coffee machine. Today while drinking coffee they went through their whole plan as detailed as possible, listing all the possible things that could go wrong and what would they do if any of those would happen. They even have a guy who claimed to know how to perform an exorcism on the speed dial.

"Stick to the plan, George." Fred pointed in the serious voice giving his twin a little bit of a threatening look.

"I've got it. I've got it. Calm down. Make sure he is on time and in one piece." Fred said rolling his eyes since George is on his hill for way too long.

"One piece?" George whisper in high pitched angry like voice. "You are not going to go through a war zone."

"Are you sure? Because you sure are making it look exactly like that." George just rolled his eyes and took a sip of his coffee. They went through their little plan couple more times and just when Fred thought he is going to lose it and actually stab his brother with that muffin he was eating the clock hit 6:30 am. George jumped off his seat eager to escape his brother's madness and with his mug in hand started sprinting upstairs.

"Put the mug..." And before Fred could finish his sentence there it was. A scream. A cuss. And more screaming that woke up the entire house and caught the attention of the people who were working outside on the final details.

"Merlin's beard, what is going on?" Worried looking Remus ran in the house closely followed by Sirius who had his wand in his hand and a spell ready to be said. Fred looked as surprised as probably the majority of the people so he shook his head and pointed towards the stairs. He kind of knows what is happening, but he is going to enjoy it more if he stays quiet.

"George ran into me full speed." Ginny said at the edge of tears gesturing at her pastel lilac dress that now has a giant brown stain on. Mrs Weasley sighed and looked at George with a blank expression since she barely slept last night.

"Go up to your room, change and give the dress to me." Remus said it almost nonchalantly earning a lot of strange looks.

"I've had many, too many coffee incidents." He half lied knowing that if he tells them the truth (even though he knows they are all thinking about it) or better say acknowledge it, everyone will become tense and the situation will be way too awkward.

"I did not see this coming." Fred said way too loud then he intended to say. He then facepalmed himself and burst into a fake laugh. "It's a joke that I just remembered." He lied and that was George's cue to laugh as well.

"Oh, yeah it's a good one." He said between laughs and everyone just took off knowing that whatever these two are up to, no one will know about it until it is done. "What's going on?" George asked once he thought the air is clear.

"We weren't detailed enough. We oversaw those kinds of stupid little things." Fred whispered angering his brother. But, instead of losing his cool, George placed his hands on each of Fred's shoulder, squeezed them and making sure he is looking at him.

"Everything will be fine. Everything will go according to our plan. And at the end of the day, everyone will be happy, except moping Myrtle." He tried to lighten him up by adding the moping Myrtle in the sentence and in a sense he did make a progress because he did crack a smile.

***

Ron returned to his room as pale as never. His nerves have been doing one hell of a job. He didn't sleep last night at all, he paced around the room like a mad man chewing on his rope while murmuring random things. And of course, that kept Harry up as well. He too then started facing his own demons, or to be specific the devil himself and some demons. When Ron entered the room, he found Harry sound asleep on his bed. The sight left Ron confused and unsure. He knows, Harry needs to get up, but he just fell asleep. Ron feels guilty already and if he wakes him up, he'll feel even bigger guilt. He didn't know what to do, so he started panicking. Silently this time. He grabbed his jacket and his wand and ran outside still in his pyjamas. He made sure he makes almost no sound and that no one sees him. He made great progress, he managed to even step outside before there was a hand on his collar, stopping him from making another step.

"Where do you think, you are going?" The muffled voice said, making Ron gulp.

"Erm... Walk." He said in fear.

"Oh, great. I was just going there myself." Sirius said with an evil grin on his face as he let go of Ron's collar. "Lead the way." He added and gave a little push to Ron, who nearly fell down on his nose.

"Actually, I'll be fine. I'll go back to my room." Ron tried to escape Sirius, who still kind of scars him. Sirius stopped right in front of him and Ron once again gulped. He then smiled at him and pointed in front of him. 

"Walk." He said in a cool voice and Ron turned around and started walking toward the field. "So, Ronald, how are you?" His cool and calm voice made Ron really nervous.

"Erm... Erm... Pffff... Am...." Sirius sighed and shook his head. 

"That's what I thought." Ron blushed and tried to run away, but Sirius grabbed him by his shoulder and held him in one place. "Don't even think about this." He kept his cool voice not letting go of Ron. "What I'm about to tell you, is not because, I hate you, kid. But, if you flee I will hunt you down, and ki... Shit... No... I will make you regret everything. Hermione's been through enough, she lost her birth family, and don't you dare take the new family away from her. Put it together. You are marrying a girl who is one of the kind, she is equally smart and beautiful, kind, warm-hearted. She loves you more than life itself, and if those reasons are not enough, than she is a fool for falling for a complete and utter dick." Ron opened then closed his mouth, not being sure whether this was actually sweet or terrifying. "I will let you go now. I hope for both our sakes, you won't run away." Sirius let go of him, watching him closely. And Ron, he ran, he ran as fast as he could. Sirius shook his head and started running after him. Ron then suddenly stopped, looking as white as ever. Sirius caught up with him and gasped as he saw what made Ron stop. 

"Death Eater's mask..." Sirius mumbled being alert. "Shit." He said as he hurried to the mask, picked it up and hid it inside his jacket. "Ron!" Sirius yelled, but Ron kept on staring at the spot where the mask was. "RONALD!" But, Ron remained frozen. Sirius came in front of him and started shaking him. "Put it together."

"I saw... That's why I started running..." Ron said in a shaky voice. 

"Listen to me, Ron. You will not speak of this. This will be our secret. I will handle the situation, you go, get married, be happy. Let us, for once deal with the shit." Ron nodded. "Good, and no matter what, don't you dare telling about this to Harry." Ron nodded again. Sirius grabbed Ron by his shoulder and teleported them nearer to the house. 

***

The morning passed quickly and soon came the time for the ceremony to start. Sirius and Ron came back from the walk looking a bit tense, but no one dared to make any remarks what so ever. Instead, they all pretended like everything is normal and casual, which of course wasn't. Ginny was still mad because of the dress that was drying, George and Fred seemed at the edge of exploding, Remus paced around the house without any purpose, all in all, everyone was overwhelmed by their own feelings. And then there was Harry, numb and cool as ice. For the first time in ages, he felt almost phlegmatic. He doesn't know why just something unclear was giving him peace. He stopped thinking about how he will lose Ron's friendship, no instead he was just OK with the fact that he is getting married. He stopped thinking about Sirius's mood swings, he just imagined the pair of blue eyes. He dreamed of those eyes in those few hours of sleep. And they calmed him down, like a deep blue sea. He just didn't mind anything that was happening around him for as long as he thinks of those two blue diamonds. He took his time in the bathroom, making sure everything fits perfectly, that every single strain of hair is on its spot, that his shirt is neat. He even used a spell he doesn't like to use, to "repair" his eyes. He put his glasses away, placed his wand in left inside pocket of his navy blue suit jacket and buttoned it. He looked at himself in the mirror and smiled as he almost could see those blue eyes staring at him. When he came downstairs everyone was already ready. Fred was talking passionately to very nervous Ron, while Sirius and Remus were having their own little chat from time to time giggling about something. It seemed to Harry that the tension left most of the people and that everyone finally calmed down.

"What is going on?" Harry asked Remus and Sirius in muffled voice gesturing at Fred and Ron.

"Ron is sure he is going to pass out." Sirius said with half mocking smirk earning a nasty look from Remus.

"Behave." He hissed.

"Too late, I've already had a talk with him." Sirius casually said and took off leaving very pissed Remus alone with Harry.

"I'm sure he didn't scare him for life?" Harry's sentence came out more like a question making the whole situation even worse than it was. Harry sighed in disbelief and went to confront Ron.

"Ron, everything will be OK. You love her and she loves you."

"That's exactly what I'm telling him for past 10 minutes." Fred said in disbelief.

"Ronald, I've already told you, you two were practically married this whole time, now it's going to be a bit official." Harry smiled while putting his hands on each of Ron's shoulder. "Calm down and be happy, it's your wedding day."

"Merlin's beard It's my wedding day!!!" Ron said with a huge grin on his face. Harry and Fred smiled as well and together they left the house.

***

The ceremony was beautiful without any surprise. After they were pronounced Mrs and Mr Weasley, Fred and George were the most relieved from anyone.

"Hermione!" Harry said seconds after she got married.

"Harry!! I'm married, I'm Mrs Weasley now!!" She said in happiness and excitement.

"Yes, and I wish you all the happiness. I just want to give you my wedding gift." She narrowed her eyebrows in confusion and Harry just smiled. "Don't move. I'll be back in no time. In just a minute he came back accompanied by two people Hermione thought will never see again in her life.

"Hi, honey. It was a very beautiful ceremony."

"You know; you will have to have a muggle one as well. I want to walk you down the aisle." Her dad said with a huge smile and Hermione thought she will faint from all the happiness.

"How?" She asked through tears and Harry just smiled.

"All I'm going to say is that it is permanent." And with that said he took off. He walked out of the tent that was crowded with people. Outside were men and women, some talking, some smoking, and some drinking. No one was alone except Harry. He then spotted Sirius and Remus talking, he was on his way top them when they dissašeared in black smoke. So, Harry decided to walk far away from the tent. As deep in the field as possible. No one would even notice he is gone, not that he minded too much. He just needed some time alone. He sat down on one of the rock still hearing music from the tent which means he is not too far away. He flunked his suit jacket over his left shoulder and sighed.

"Beautiful." Harry heard a muffled voice and he turned around to where he thought the voice came, but he saw no one. He shrugged it off thinking that his lack of sleeping is doing its job. He started at nothingness trying not to think about anything, not even the blue eyes. Just nothing. But he couldn't do that, as the blue eyes refused to leave him alone. They've just decided to hunt him like he does, to be as annoying as he is. And one thing led to another and there he was thinking about Paris again. He battled with his own thoughts when a sharp pain went through his whole body. From his scar, straight down to his toes. He hissed at the pain and in panic stood up looking around for any signs of someone jinxing him. But, when he didn't notice anything out of place, he was sure that the pain was just in his head.


	3. A Meeting, the Carrows and a Fight

"Why did you teleport us here?" Remus asked in a worried voice as he saw they are in the Shrieking Shack. "Not to mention it's the middle of the wedding." Sirius didn't say anything to this, he just took the mask out of his pocket and sized it up to its real size.

"Found it in the fields near Weasley's house." Remus went all white in the face. "I checked it out and, well it's not good. This one belongs to Lucius."

"This can't be. He's in Azkaban." Sirius gave him the look and Remus growled. "We just can't have normal family problems, normal life problems. Will Harry, ever have just a normal bloody school year?" 

"No, since this one is the last one." This remarkable comment earned him a nasty look from Remus. " We'll call a meeting, tomorrow morning or something, discuss it, and for once deal with it, without bothering the kids."

"Sirius, the kids as you call them, are part of the order. Not inviting them would be lawbreaking." Sirius cocked an eyebrow at Remus who rolled his eyes. "They are in danger. And you know it. We let them know, and thus stop at least one thing going wrong. When Harry finds out we knew and didn't tell them, he will get apocalyptic. Call the meeting the day before they go back to school, invite all of them and tell them about this." 

"That's two weeks. Too much time and too many things could go wrong." Remus cocked an eyebrow at Sirius. 

"Then why drag me, only me here? You could have spoken about it at the wedding, or the moment you found it." 

"Couple hours and two weeks aren't the same."

"But still, shit could have happened." 

"You are impossible sometimes, you know that right?" Remus just smirked and flipped him off. "Gladly darling, but we have more important things to do now." Remus fake gasped. 

"Are you okay? Refusing me? I guess, there's a first time for everything." 

"I'm serious, stop messing around."

"Yes, yes, you are Sirius. You okay?" And Sirius knew, he knew, Remus was being a total douche. 

"What is up with you?" 

"Can't I just for once ignore the bloody problem and act as if we are drama-free, muggle-like family?" 

"You can, but not when Harry's life is at stake." Remus gave him the look or pure warning. 

"This mask... This shit proves nothing. Okay? If they had intentions to do something, we wouldn't be here talking. Stop being paranoid coz it really doesn't suit you. We will call the bloody meeting on Sunday, discuss the mask and see what next. Till then, we will keep an extra eye on as many people as we can." Remus gave Sirius a kiss on the cheek and disappeared. And then he immediately regretted his reckless behaviour. Not a second later he had returned with Fred and George who had been laughing at something, not bein aware of them being transported. 

"OH!" They've said at the same time. Then Remus came back with Molly and Arthur who still danced like they were at the wedding. After them, it was Ron and Hermione, but no Harry.

"This is a bit of an urgent let's call it family meeting. Sirius, proceed!" Remus said in a deep voice, not giving anyone a chance to say a thing. 

"Before you kill him..." Sirius gave a stern look to very angry looking Hermione. "...here's a valid reason not to do it." With that said he showed the mask to them. "It belongs to Lucius." 

"Boys!" Molly yelled at the top of her lungs, thinking their sons did this as one of their pranks, but when she saw how terrified they look, she took a very long breath. "So, it's not you, for once." 

"Lucius is in Azkaban, and The Ministry would have reacted by now if there were any Death Eaters activities." Arthur said with his pointing finger raised in the air and Fred sighed. 

"With all the respect dad, but really?!" 

"I think, I know who put it there." Came a deep voice from somewhere inside the room. It got them alerted. "Please, don't kill me." The voice became softer as a figure stepped out of the shadows. 

"What are YOU doing here!?" Yelled Ron with his wand out. 

"I've been chasing Death Eaters for 3 months now." Draco said with his hands raised in the air. "If I may, I will show you." He said looking at Sirius who nodded. Draco put his hands down and took his wand out. "Revelio." At the moment he did the spell, the whole room changed from dusty ruin to decent looking living place. The walls changed from ugly, covered in cobwebs into neat light green ones. The floor with squicky and dangerous wood flooring, with boards and nails sticking up, even few of the boards were missing, are now replaced by nice dark pine wood flour. The room is furnished with one rather huge dark pine wood table and 12 chairs around the table. In one corner there was a mattress with a pillow and a blanket. In another corner was one small plastic table covered in papers and books, with the plastic chair. Draco blushed at the sight of the room. "I'm sorry for trespassing, but I don't technically have anywhere to live at the moment. I will remove myself from here first thing in the morning." Molly, Arthur, Sirius and Remus shared a pitiful and very surprised look not expecting that kind of behaviour from him. 

"So, you are the mysterious hunter?" Hermione spat out, wishing to have her wand with her, but she was forced to put it in her purse that is at the moment lying on the table back in the pavilion.

"Hunter, traitor. Depends on whose side you are on. But, yes. I've been hunting them down and sending them to Azkaban." With a flick of his wand, a map appeared on the table in the middle of the room. "Sit." He gestured them to sit down, and they all did except for Ron who refused to. "Or stand, but, you won't see much from over there." Draco said and with sigh and couple curses mumbled under his breath, Ron walked to the table. The map looked like an ordinary world map. "One, two, three..." With each number said, Draco has tapped the side of the map where the wind rose is. "...you can't hide from me." He gave the map the final a bit harsh tap and the little green circles with some new land showed. Almost all of them were crowded up in one space, where Azkaban was, while the other huge group was in the middle of England. "Green dots, all registered Death Eaters, ever, dead or alive. This huge pile is Azkaban and this one is the cemetery." He pointed at the piled up green dots and hummed. "Carrows." He whispered and all the green dots disappeared but two, they remained on the map in the middle of Russia. "See, these two...." Draco sighed and shook his head as he remembered how he nearly got them back in Paris, but a certain idiot has distracted him. "... I can't seem to catch them. They are smarter than they look, and sometimes behave." As he said that the dots have disappeared, followed by loud gasps. "They jump from place to place every 10 seconds, of course, if they don't have some business to do first." 

"Why them? From all other Death Eaters?" Arthur asked what everybody else was thinking, but they were too occupied with wrapping their thoughts around the information Draco has provided them with. 

"Because they were the only ones who appeared in London in the last 3 days. I thought, they got here for fun, but now it makes sense." 

"Why? I mean, why your father's mask? Why the mask?" Draco opened then closed his mouth not having a single idea. And then it dawned on him. 

"He might be out, and this is one of his sick games." The moment he said that everyone froze. 

"No." Sirius said as he aggressively shook his head. 

"It's possible. Dementors made a mistake of going public the first time, now they kept it a secret. Even they have enough brain to know, that two escapes in just a short amount of time are bad for... well... business, I guess." Hermione said surprising everyone, even herself, for agreeing with Draco. 

"Okay, let's say this is all the truth. Why leaving the mask?" 

"What if they are gathering again? Voldemort or not, they still have a strong hatred towards mu... everyone who is not pure-blooded. And the mask is to let us know, they are coming back?" 

"Wait! Wait! Bloody WAIT!" Ron yelled all of the sudden earning surprised looks from everyone. "Track him. Track your father on that little map of yours." Draco's face went from shocked to pure guilt. 

"I can't..." And then heavy annoyed and very angry sighs came. "I can't because it doesn't work on people directly related to me. Meaning my parents, siblings and children if I had any. 

"Convenient." Ron mumbled and Draco growled. 

"You think I'd make myself present if I was still part of..." He had to take a deep breath before saying it. "Death Eaters? You didn't even know I was here. Here, the bloody proof!" Draco yelled and yanked his left shirtsleeve up, revealing burnt very red skin. "This, this will never heal and will never stop burning and hurting. Good enough proof?" The silence fell upon the room. They were all speechless even Ron, who hates his guts, didn't know what to say. Draco cleared his throat and carefully rolled down his sleeve. "You should go, you've been gone for too long. If something unusual happens, I will inform you, I promise." With their minds all over the place, but without any fight and suddenly not feeling like celebrating anymore they were all gone, all except Sirius and Remus. 

"You were here the whole time!?" Sirius shrieked and Remus shook his head with a sigh. 

"What he meant to say is, if you need a place to stay, we have a very comfortable guest room that is gathering dust." Sirius growled. 

"No, what I meant to say was exactly what I've said." Sirius growled and Draco stepped back in fear. He nodded and started manually gathering his personal things. Sirius sighed and shook his head, he does feel bad for him, but that doesn't give him the rights to creep in the shadows and trespass. "You. Were. Here. The. Whole. Time." Sirius said in a harsh voice. 

"Look, whit my mom in Paris, my well... him in prison, me being Malfoy and everyone knowing where our house is, I'm not safe there. I have friends my age, but their parents don't like me and trust me enough to let me stay under their roof until the school starts." He was talking while gathering all his things and putting them on the big table. since he has forgotten where he hid his trunk. "This place, I figured was the best since no one, but you, professor, use it on full moons. And, I couldn't exactly stay in Paris." Draco then hit his own mouth as he figured what he said. "Never mind that, I will be off." Just need to find the bloody thing. He mumbled to himself.

"When were you..." Remus started and then made an "o" face. "Were you keeping an eye on Harry?" Draco didn't react to the asked question as he kept on turning around in hopes to remember where his trunk is. "DRACO!" Remus yelled and Draco stopped turning around as he started to feel dizzy as well. He sighed and slowly shook his head. 

"With the map." He gestured at the table and Remus nodded. "I can see where most of them are, but since they can all kill him in the blink of an eye, I had to come along and always be near him, just in case. Which reminds me, why didn't you bring him?" 

"He was asleep in Ron's room." Draco hummed and nodded more to himself than to Remus. "And thank you for keeping an eye on him." Draco crept a smile and quickly looked down at his own shoes, feeling awkward. "If you don't want to come with us, you may stay here as long as you wish. But, at least, come to have meals with us. This isn't exactly the definition of comfort. And besides, it stinks."

"If it stinks to you, darling, imagine, how it is for the rest of us." Sirius yelled from somewhere above them. "I think, I found that watch of yours, you've lost couple decades ago!" Sirius yelled and reappeared back in the room with a huge smile on his face and something black, dusty and very old looking in his hand. 

"Really?" Remus asked with anger written all over his face. 

"What? You expect to cry my eyes over his fortune? He has been tormenting Harry for the better part of his life. He should be happy, I hadn't..."

"If I were you, I'd think very hard about how to finish that sentence." Remus said in strick and threatening voice, and Draco pretty much wanted to disappear. Sirius rolled his eyes and threw the thing at Sirius who dodged it. "That everything else, but the watch." He added and pointed at Draco. "Apologize to him." Sirius shook his head and crossed his hands on his chest. 

"I will just go, yeah?" Draco said in a small awkward voice, but Remus took a hold of his shirt and refused to let go. "Or I'll stay." He sighed in annoyance. "I don't need an apology, believe it or not, I've heard and seen worse. It's just another day in my life. Let me go." Draco hissed, but Remus had none of it. 

"One meal and a shower, but I am not apologizing. And he will eat here!" Sirius yelled the last part and Remus shook his head with a smirk. 

"All meals, he eats with us, shower, and he can come by whenever he wants." 

"I AM NOT AN ANIMAL!" Draco yelled in pure rage. "OR A THING OF BARGAIN!" And with that, he wiggled out of Remus' grip and he disappeared in the black smoke. 

"Great." Remus said in anger and Sirius started smiling, but his smiling stopped when Remus gave him a very loud growl, followed by not so nice or pleasant words. "You are sleeping here until further notice." And with that Remus took off, leaving confused Sirius in the middle of now shaggy looking room.


	4. A Thief, a Visit and Nostalgia

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry for going MIA and being super behind the schedule but I have had some personal/family problems and didn't have the needed time to work on the story
> 
> Take care and thank you for your time <3

**_"Close your eyes." Harry shook his head with little giggles escaping his mouth. "Close them." With a sigh and trying not to giggle too much, Harry did what he was told._ **

**_"If you lick me, I'll kneel you in your manhood." Draco started laughing and Harry scoffed._ **

**_"Only you Potter, only you would say manhood instead of balls." Harry playfully showed him knowing that Draco is indeed just a couple of miserable millimetres away from him. "Don't move and don't open your eyes."_ **

**_"Am I allowed to breathe, mister Don't?"  Harry asked with giggles back._ **

**_"And stop asking stupid questions, you idiot."  Harry started nodding furiously but stopped when he started to get really sick. "If you vomit all over me, Potter, I swear, I will curse you."_ **

**_"What are you doing? When can I open my eyes."_ **

_**"Stop talking, stop moving and stop being a fucking idiot, and you might soon find out..." Harry felt some hot air on his face. "...Potter." Draco whispered in his right ear, sending shivers through his whole body. "Not funny anymore, innit, Potter?"  He kept whispering in a raspy voice.**  _

"I SAID IMPORTANT, NOT... NOT THIS MONSTROSITY!" He said in anger as he wished to Obliviate himself, that is the last thing he wanted to know and see. He pointed his wand at her. "I need Potter's important memories."

"This one came first, sire." She said as she hugged herself in fear. 

"And you thought,  _oh he is going to enjoy this_." She furiously shook her head. 

"I didn't..." 

"Exactly, you didn't think, because you don't have a brain." He was ready to crucio her. 

"If I may, sire. The memory she stole, it provides you with fine information." He cocked his eyebrow and pointed his wand at him, crucio ready to be cast on that idiot. "They are truly in love. If you want to hurt one, hurt the other first." He lowered the wand and rested his hands in his lap as he nodded and smiled. 

"Bring me Longbottom, unharmed, but unconscious." He said as an evil plan came to his mind. 

"And you!" He pointed back at her, and she yelped and hugged herself closer. "Keep stealing from Potter!" She chuckled and disappeared in black smoke. 

***

After he experienced that sudden pain, Harry was sure he is so exhausted that his body is making up its own pain. So Harry, teleported in Ron's room and plopped down on his bed dead tired. 

He woke what it felt hours later when in all honesty it has been only a couple minutes later. He had a terrible nightmare and he couldn't sleep anymore. He dreamed of someone being in his head and stealing his memory of his parents. Harry shook his head as he tried to forget all about that nightmare. He was about to get up and take a walk when someone appeared next to him. He jerked his head to the right with his wand in his hand. 

"Hi." Said a small voice, and Harry rolled his eyes. 

"Hi." He spat out and put his wand back. "What in the bloody Baron's name, are you doing in Ron's room? Or in his house in general?" 

"Remember?!" Draco gestured at their wrists and Harry rolled his eyes. He stood up from the bed he was sleeping in and Draco took the opportunity to check him up and down. He must admit, Harry looks very fuckable in the black tight suit.

"Right. Your daily dose of me." Harry mumbled and Draco smirked.

"Vise Versa, Potter." Harry once again rolled his eyes and then scoffed as he saw the state of him. 

"You look worse than you smell."

"Well, wifey, in case you have forgotten, I am pretty much homeless at this point." 

"But, you are still a bloody wizard." Draco scoffed, stood up and with one smooth wave of his wand, he was clean and smelled like mint. 

"Happy?" Draco plopped back down on the bed. His legs were on the ground while his back fully stretched on the comfortable mattress. 

"Thrilled!" Harry spat back at him and Draco sighed. The silence filled the room. Draco found the ceiling very entertaining and Harry was just staring at Draco, hoping he won't get caught. He wanted to take in the whole picture. Draco's black converse, accompanied by a nice pair of maybe too tight black pants, ripped at the knees, exposing a porcelain-like skin. Harry didn't actually mind the pants on him, but he wouldn't wear them personally, he was more of a jeans guy himself. The whole look was finished with a plain white, a big baggy shirt, and suddenly Harry wished, they were out and that it was raining. He didn't know exactly, where those thoughts are coming from, but there they are, and he has no idea how he feels about them. 

"Was the wedding good?" Draco asked, breaking the silence and Harry's thought. He was still looking at the ceiling and Harry frowned in surprise since he didn't expect from Draco to ask such a normal question.  "And? If you are nodding, I can't see it. I still can't read minds, Harry." 

"Yes. Why, from all the thing, why'd ask about that?" Harry said in annoyance and Draco sighed. He propped himself up with his elbows so he can see Harry now. Harry quickly looked away with a bit of a blush creeping up on his face. 

"And why not, Harry? I asked what I wanted to ask." Harry to this scoffed and turned on his hill. Draco smirked as million naughty thoughts started floating in as he had a clear and very beautiful view of Harry's ass in those nice black a bit tight suit pants. "Thank you for the view, Mister Potter." Harry sighed and turned back around to face Draco. "Even better." Draco said with a soft smile, knowing he is getting on Harry's nerves. Harry sighed once again and tried turning around for 90 degrees. "Still a really nice view." Harry growled in frustration and walked to the bed. He stood there for a moment with Draco's eyes on him. He then sat down next to Draco. "Feels better, innit?" Harry scoffed but nodded, as he has to admit. He does feel a bit better and a bit less tense. "Perks of me being here." 

"You seem to know a lot about our situation. Have you found the..."

"No, actually I don't. I am just not afraid of what I feel, unlike some other people." Harry scoffed again and laid down on the bed with his legs still on the ground.

"Don't know what you are talking about." Harry replied with blush earning a small giggle from Draco. And Harry found himself smiling and actually liking this small moment of normality. "Why is this so hard?" He asked in wonder and it took everything in Draco not to make a very, very wrong come back. 

"What exactly?" He asked after a couple of seconds. 

"Side note, on the scale from 0 to 10, 10 being the worse, how bad did you want to make one of your little idiotic remarks?" 

"100." Harry actually giggled and earned a smack on the chest by Draco. 

"Ouch." He said in between laughs and Draco found himself laughing along. They were laughing together, both of them looking up at the ceiling until their laughter stopped as the realization hit in. "This was..." Draco hummed and they fell into silence once more. It isn't awkward, but it isn't pleasant either, it's just silence. 

"What did you mean by that question you asked before?" Draco interrupted the silence and Harry hummed. 

"Why is this so hard? Us, actually being like this? Decent, almost normal." Draco shrugged his shoulder. 

"I guess, old habits die hard." Harry scowled in confusion. 

"What do you mean old habits?"

"We've spent the better part of those 7 years we've known each other, in insulting, mocking each other, arguing, might I even say at one point truly hating each other. And then, we grew up sort to say, came to our senses and... well here we are. Trying to escape old habits to literally stay alive." Harry made an "o" face since he never looked at their situation from that angle.

"It wasn't a habit." Harry said in defence and Draco chuckled. 

"It was, Harry, it still is. Even now, you are trying to put up a fight." 

"No, it actually wasn't a habit. Because, like it or not you were the bad guy, the bully. You were the one who most of the time started the fight." Draco nodded since Harry has a point, but this doesn't mean it wasn't a habit. 

"Harry, a habit is a settled or regular tendency, not stepping up to a bully. We've been dancing the same dance for 7 years, we can't magically change the dance if the beat is still the same and hard to change. We are used to snapping at each other, yelling at each other, insulting and so on. For all that to be gone with the blink of an eye is close to impossible." Harry opened his mouth and then closed them as he had nothing to say. Only one thing stuck to him, the most idiotic thing of all the things Draco has said. Only one thing on his mind. Him and Draco dancing tango, Draco in a red dress and high hills. And then he burst into uncontrollable laughter, and Draco got mad. 

"You and me dancing tango." Harry managed to say in between laughs and Draco shook his head, but found himself laughing along as the image struck him. Them dancing Tango, Potter in red hills and red dress. They were laughing until their stomachs started to hurt. When the laughter died, Draco sighed. 

"You wanna hear a secret?" Harry hummed in response. "I could definitely get used to this." Draco found himself saying with a warm and genuine smile on his face. 

"Wanna hear a secret too?" Harry replied. 

"Sure." Draco said not once the smile leaving his face. 

"Me too." Harry mumbled in small bearly hearable voice, and that made Draco smile even wider, those were indeed one of the rare happy times. Draco really hoped that, besides the whole Death Eaters problems, some good times will happen. "Maybe, old habits won't be so hard to kill, after all." Harry said and Draco didn't know what to say to this, since his reply, he was pretty sure would cause a fight, but he couldn't, he just couldn't bite his own tongue. 

"For a moment, it sure seems so, but nothing lasts forever. You don't know what tomorrow brings, for all we know, we could snap at each other in five seconds." Harry sighed in frustration and sat up. 

"It almost looks like you want us to fight all the time. Why?" Draco shook his head and closed his eyes. 

"I don't, that's the problem." Harry shot him a very confused look, but Draco didn't catch it since he closed his eyes. "Getting used to us not fighting is dangerous. Being friends is even worse. We have, both of us, done and said some nasty things in the past, the things that could catch up with us and bite us. And we would be back at the square one. Back at fighting." Harry understood where Draco is coming from, but he wasn't right a 100%. 

"Then, if that happens, even though I doubt it, but even if we go back, we rebuild us again."

"With every step forward, we make two backwards, and that is our curse. Not intentionally, but we cause a reaction that sets us two steps back. There is only so far we can go before we hit the wall." Harry shook his head and tapped Draco's right thigh. Draco looked up in surprise. 

"In the current events, name that one step, that apparently made us go two steps back." Harry said with a smile knowing Draco won't be able to come up with an answer. 

"Paris." Draco whispered and Harry's smiling face dropped. 

"What about it?" Harry tried to cover up sudden hurt. 

"I don't know. But, Paris should definitely be in that equation." Harry huhed with a cocked eyebrow. 

"As far as I am informed, said Paris can't be that one thing that made us go two steps back since after Paris we have kind of came closer. And to make it one of the two steps back, makes even less sense." Draco opened then closed his mouth, Harry has a point, but Draco doesn't like that. 

"Us doing that idiotic thing we shall not name, isn't a step back? I mean, I knew you are an idiot, but not that big of an idiot." Harry stood up from the bed in anger. 

"In a sense yes, it was a step back, kind of, but not the way you want to present it. The Paris incident, that actual thing brought us together, not made us even more apart." It was now Draco's turn to sit up in frustration. He dragged his hands through his hair and growled in frustration. 

"I need some fresh air." Draco growled in pure and utter frustration and he disappeared in a cloud of thin smoke. 

Harry didn't feel like sleeping and much less like celebrating anymore, so he too without saying a word disappeared in a thick cloud of black smoke.  He, without thinking twice decided to visit the last place he thought would actually miss. There he was, next to the post lamp, staring at the house, the house of pure and utter terror, but the life he actually started to miss, no Voldemort, no Dementors, no wizards, just a pure muggle life, with unusual muggle problems. He found himself missing that small shaggy room under the staircase, where Dudley made sure, he stumps as much as possible. He actually missed that miserable life, the life when he had nothing to lose because he had nothing. He looked closely at the house expecting, hoping to see some movements, but the lights were off, meaning they are fast asleep. Then Harry remembered Dobby, the silly, a bit weird house-elf, who became one of Harry's most trusted friends, the precious little Dobby, who died for him. One more death so Harry could live. And Harry found himself tearing up. And then out of nowhere, there it was again, a sudden sharp pain that shot through his whole body. He shook his head and gave one last look to the house number Four on the Private Drive. He immediately felt silly for missing that lifestyle, because a life without magic, for him, now is no life at all. He then decided to go to one of the local inns to get a cup of coffee, since he won't be sleeping. He decided to go there by the foot, knowing one of the inns is actually just around the block. He walked pass many same looking houses, feeling maybe nostalgic in a sense, but soon the feeling faded as he stumbled across non-other than Dudley and his gang looking friends. He tried to quickly turn around to avoid any scenes, but it was too late. 

"If it isn't the freak himself!" Yelled Dudley with a huge grin on his face, earning wolf-like whistles from his friends, Harry scoffed and tried to walk away. "Aww, what's the matter, no old..." And Dudley suddenly stopped walking. Harry looked at them in pure confusion as he turned on his hill. There it was in the middle of the street a huge black dog growling at Dudley and his friends. Before Harry could do anything, they ran away and the dog turned human. 

"I'm not even going to ask. Let's have that cup of hot chocolate." Harry nodded a bit eagerly and he and Sirius went to the inn for a nice cup of hot chocolate. They walked together in the inn, and Harry recognized the waitress, it was one of the few nice people from his muggle life. 

"If it isn't the mysterious Harry Potter." She said with a smile and Harry smiled back at her. 

"Hey, Anna." He waved at her. "Two cups of hot chocolate, please." She nodded and Harry joined Sirius at the boot in the corner. "How'd you know..." Harry asked as soon as he sat down. 

"I didn't ask, so please, you do the same." Harry nodded and sighed. "Nice girl." Sirius added as he looked closely at the girl. "She likes you, I'd say."  Harry nodded, not actually listening to a word Sirius is saying, he was too occupied with looking worriedly at Sirius. "We said no questions." He ordered and Harry sighed. 

"Just, tell me you will be fine."

"Couples fight, Harry." That's all Sirius said and Harry knew better than to ask anything else about the fight. How he knows, they had a fight? Every time, they have a bit bigger and a tad bit serious fight, Sirius gets all mopy, and usually drags Harry to the nearest cafe or any place that sells hot chocolate. And chocolate works on Sirius a bit strangely, normally the chocolate is actually poisonous for dogs, but since Sirius is actually a human, the chocolate part, however, calms the angry and frustrated animagus part, he just can't have more than one cup of hot chocolate, or he gets horrifically sick. “I’m fine.” Sirius said with a stern look and Harry sighed deciding to drop it.

 


	5. Planning, a Postcard and Trust

"Something's not right about him." Fred mumbled under his breath confusing his twin brother.

"Him? I thought we are making new sweets." George said with cocked eyebrow to which Fred responded with a heavy sigh.

"Harry, he bugs me, or better say, his love life bugs me." George looked at him in pure shock thinking his brother has gone mad.

"You missing half a brain or something?" Fred shook his head and sighed once again.

"Well, I bloody think the kid deserves happiness and love." George still had no idea what his brother is talking about, and where did the sudden interest in Harry's love life comes from. Instead of saying anything else, Fred jumped off his seat in a hurry as if something bit him on his ass. "Three Broomsticks, now." George didn't have to be said twice. 

In the next second, they were standing in front of the Three Broomsticks. And in the next, they were at the table drinking their Butterbears. George just glared at his brother, who must have lost it. He couldn't bear it anymore, he needed the explanation. 

"Care to explain anything?"

"Right. The Rope. The Tower. I'm pretty sure it's Malfoy."

"I thought it was impossible, but, this confused me even more. What is up with you today?"

"Okay. Ever since those two had met, there was definitely something going on." George cocked his eyebrow at his clearly mad brother. "Harry and Draco, you absolute git."  George made an "o" face and Fred just rolled his eyes while mumbling under his breath,  _So much of your twin connection._

"Right." George said awkwardly as he took a sip of his drink. 

"Yes. As I was saying, there have always been some very strong feeling between those two. We all just assumed it was pure and utter hate."

"Well, most of you did, but not all of us." Came a muffled female voice from somewhere to their left. Both twins jerked their heads towards the source and gasped as they were met by one smirking face and one quite embarrassed red face. 

"Eavesdropping, I see." Fred scoffed at them.

"No, you weren't actually whispering. And hearing Draco's name got me very interested. Him too, only he won't admit it." Pansy said with a smile as she sat down next to Fred, while Blaise just stood on his spot. "I don't want us to start beating around the bushes, so I'll be straight with you. We are here to help you, to help those two. I'm not much happier than you guys are about this, but if them being together, means I get to see a smile on Draco's stupid face, I'm all aboard." Pansy gave a killer look to Blaise who just gulped and nodded. 

"I... We..." 

"What he's trying to say is, we are not sure Harry is in love with Draco."

"Likewise, but..." Blaise said in a shaky voice and Fred just cocked an eyebrow at him and then at Pansy. She sighed and shook her head.

  "That one." She pointed at Blaise. "Is going through his personal Gryffindor drama, and the said Gryffindor has entered the building a couple seconds ago. That's not the point now. We are not sure, but we have some interesting stuff that indicates, that Draco is madly in love with Harry."

"Lucky for you..."

"Wait a bloody second, Fred. How can we be sure to trust you?" Pansy cocked an eyebrow and with the big grin on her face, she took out a piece of paper out of her inner pocket. 

"This here is Draco's postcard from when he was in Paris. I will let you read it in hopes of you trusting us." She slid the paper in between the twins and Fred took it. 

_This started fucking terrible. I wish I was dead. Louis is little spoiled brat. Fucking hell, if I was half as bad as that little shit, I am fucking surprised you put up with me and didn't kill me. He actually punched me in the dick, when I didn't want to buy him his third ice cream that day. He then stole my fucking money and bought it himslef. The little asshole. He then ran home, leaving me all alone on the idiotic Paris street. That's when my Paris time, went from zero to one hundred. You will never guess, who I saw sitting and sulking on one of the benches at the Eiffel tower. I sat right next to him, knowing I'll get a reaction out of him. A bit teasing and couple flirts from my side later, we ended up having a butterbeer together. We were at the most awful place imaginable, but I get to sit real close to him, so it was not as bad as one would think. When I say real close, I mean I was nearly sitting on his lap, which made me very happy. I really think we have kind of bonded, and that we are finally pass the whole "I hate your guts" thing. I will tell you more in person, in case this shit falls into wrong hands. But, let me tell you just this: IT IS FUCKING AWESOME AND I AM FINALLY HAPPY, ALL THANKS TO HARRY FUCKING POTTER._

Once, Fred read it, he looked up with his mouth wide open. George, who has also read the postcard, was not as surprised as he thought he would be.

"So.... Draco... Did you talk to him?" Pansy nodded with a bit of a blush creeping up on her face. "And?" 

"I promised, I wouldn't tell." George cocked an eyebrow at her and Fred scoffed. 

"So much of us trusting each other." Fred scoffed and Pansy sighed. 

"Just, because I want us to trust each other, doesn't mean I will betray my best friend's trust. When and if the time comes, one of them will tell you on their own. I showed you this, didn't I?" She pointed at the postcard Fred is still holding.  

"Can't argue with that." Fred admitted and George sighed. 

"Theoretically speaking... We start trusting you. Right? How does this postcard thing, proves Draco is in love with Harry. For all we know, all of the things he said happened could be to embarrass Harry, plant something on him and so on. That wouldn't be the first time Draco pretended to be his friend." Pansy opened then closed her mouth, knowing that George has a point. 

"That was ages ago. Draco was a fool who did everything and anything his father told him to do." Blaise spoke up for the first time. 

"And he could very well be just a mean fool now." Blaise rolled his eyes and hit the table in anger, scaring the twins. 

"After everything we did, after everything Draco and his mom did for you and Harry, you still doubt him? He betrayed his father, she sold Lucious out, Draco saved Harry's life, should I go on?" Blaise asked with a cocked eyebrow. 

"You know, Blaise has a point." It was non-other than Neville who came with five butterbeers floating in front of him. "Before you start, yes, I was spying on you." Neville said with evil smirk earning a weird look from Fred and George, while Pansy and Blaise looked at him in shock mixed with proudness. "To apology I brought butterbeers." He added the last part with a shaky smile. "Was trying out my new potion, it makes your hearing 6 times better, and if you concentrate enough it can go up to 10 times." When he noticed four gaping mouths are pointed at his direction, Neville blushed. "Right. Draco's at Hogwarts, helping out of the shadows, thinking he is being sneaky and that no one knows about him. I'm not sure about the whole in love part, but he is definitely a changed Slytherin." 

"Great. That's just awesome, one more is involved." George said in utter annoyance. 

"Then next time, smartasses, pick a less crowded place." Pansy said earning a growl from George. "And Longbottom, what do you mean Draco is at Hogwarts? He's in Paris till tomorrow." Neville shook his head. 

"Came at Hogwarts like 2 weeks ago. I was on the watch, and promised I wouldn't tell anyone about his arrival." 

"Well, so much of you knowing Malfoy and you two being best friends." To say Pansy was hurt would be an understatement, but she forced herself to play it cool. 

"I'm sure he has a reason for not telling us about his return." 

"We're off the topic." George said in hiss and Neville finally sat down on the chair next to Blaise who tensed up. 

"Just one more thing. When did we go from fighting in the war to playing match-makers?" 

"When we figured, those two deserve some fucking happiness, just like the rest of us." Pansy spet out and Fred and George found themselves agreeing. 

"Okay, now that we cleared out all the idiotic stuff, let's get to the point. We are not sure if those two are in fact in love. Thanks to Fred's and my awesome brains we have a way to test this one out. Before you start freaking out, the method won't hurt them in any way what so ever, it won't be illegal, nor will they know they are being tested." Fred put five colourful ropes on the table, earning confused looks from Blaise, Neville and Pansy. 

"What exactly are we supposed to do with those?" Pansy asked with a cocked eyebrow as she picked one of the ropes of the table. 

"It's based on Amortentia. Only, you lot won't fall in love with me and George. It doesn't smell like anything. But, once you put it in your mouth it reveals what your true love or soulmate if you like, tastes or smells like at the moment." The three of them made "o" faces as Fred hive-fived his brother. 

"So, we give one to Harry and one to Draco, and then what? How exactly are we going to know if it works or not?" Asked Neville looking at the colorful ropes on the table in front of him. 

"Easy, you'll make sure they have eaten something specific." 

"This will be hard and tricky to do. First of all, if you haven't noticed we don't actually hang out with each other, the three of us are on our own, second, even if we manage to do this somehow, how would we know what he tastes in the said rope?" Blaise asked not once looking anywhere but at Fred who sat in front of him. 

"You still can communicate outside the school, make a plan, I don't know, have them eat or drink something specific at let's say 10 am. Then take out the rope at 10:10 am, say something like, hey, try this, I can't figure out what it tastes like. He takes it, tells you hopefully what the opposite has eaten or drank and, there you have it. Confirmation or disconfirmation. It can't get easier than this." Fred explained giving a weird look to Blaise, who just kept on staring ever since Neville sat next to him. And then Fred smirked as it dawned on him. "To show you it works, here, Neville, you try it." Neville flashed bright red and shook his head. 

"It's gotta be one of the three of you, this doesn't work on me and Fred since we made those." Neville kept on shaking his head and Blaise still hasn't looked away from Fred. 

"Convince him, Blaise." Fred said trying to hide a smirk. 

"Oh, for fuck's sake!" Pansy yelled in annoyance and showed the rope in Neville's mouth, surprising everyone at the table. "Well, come on Longbottom, tell us." Neville stared at her in pure shock while the colourful rope hung loosely out of his mouth. 

"Bfrfon." He said with his mouth full. 

"The what?" Fred asked and Pansy yanked the rope out of his mouth.

"Burboun." Neville said with the red face and Blaise's face expression finally showed some emotions.

"Great, it works. Congrats, boys. Let's go, Pansy." Blaise said in the rush ready to leave, but Fred stopped him by pulling him down by his shirtsleeve. 

"Anyways. So, Pansy and Blaise take three ropes, one for Draco and one for each of you, consider it a gift, and Nev, one for you and one for Harry. Do this, let's see, the first day of school? Then depending on their answers, we will proceed with further actions." Fred said giving a knowing look to his twin who just nodded along. 

"That's in two days, I need more time!" Neville said in panic. 

"To do what, Longbottom? You just need to give him some cake or something, give him a fucking rope and ask him what it tastes like. That shouldn't be hard, not even for the biggest idiot like yourself." Blaise said in harsh voice earning a hit under the table from Pansy. 

"Monday it is." Neville mumbled, took the ropes and walked away. Pansy and the twins shared a confused look and then she shot a death glare to Neville. "What!?" He snapped at her, and she just shook her head.

"Way to get him to like you, good job, Blaise." Blaise stormed out of the pub in great hurry leaving the twins and Pansy alone and in great confusion. Pansy was confused about Blaise’s odd behavior, because as far as she knows this is not a way to at towards the one you are supposedly in love with, and the twins were confused because, they didn’t actually think it was the truth.

“So, another Slytherin-Gryffindor possible lovers?” Said George in way too cheery voice.

"We seriously need a hobby of some sorts." Snorted Fred while sipping his drink. 

"Match-making is pretty unique and interesting hobby, dear twin. Now shuz up and drink."


	6. News, Hiding and Comforting

Summer ended faster than Harry liked it, with the September the first right around the corner, Harry’s mood has gotten worse. He got snappier and less likeable with each day. He used to be overly excited and happy to go back to the beloved Hogwarts and couldn’t wait for the long summer holidays to finish, but not anymore. Everything has changed and that was what bothered Harry the most. Dumbledore was gone and first, it was Snape who took the position maybe too eagerly, but he soon came to a rather terrible and horrifying conclusion: he missed teaching Potions. So he stepped aside, got back to teaching Potions and happily taking house points from Gryffindor whenever he pleased, and McGonagall replaced him as a headmistress. And thus came the opening position for Transfiguration professor. Since Moody their last and the most lasting Defense Against the Dark Arts professor (he lasted 3 years) has died, McGonagall waisted no time and kindly bagged Remus to come back, who indeed accepted the offer. The whole summer, the majority of the school staff and some students were working on fixing the castle as best as they could in such a short time. Teachers have also had one too many conferences where they discussed many things: from the repairs, redecorating to deciding what to do with the previous year that was not completed when it came to the education. At the end they had decided to repeat previous year and accept the new students that were to come the following fall. As the Transfiguration professor to McGonagall utter horror, Sirius Black was suggested by non-other than minister Fudge himself. When Sirius was offered the job, he first refused it with a great stutter, knowing too well, he is not capable of being a good teacher. But, after days upon days of Remus trying to talk some sense into him, Sirius found himself decorating his new office with some personal stuff.   
Remus and he decided to announce his new job to Harry, on Sunday just a day before he had to be back at school. The three of them were eating their dinner that Remus ordered in, because none of them felt like cooking. They weren’t exactly eating, Harry too unhappy without any appetite played with his fried chicken, Sirius whose nerves got a better of him didn’t even take a single bite, he was circling with his eyes from Remus, to Harry to his plate. And Remus with his eyes fixed on Sirius ate like he hadn’t eaten in days; every time the full moon is approaching his appetite opens.

"You excited about going back?" Sirius asked in an unusually small voice. Harry stopped poking around his plate and looked at Sirius.

"Yes, and at the same time, no." Harry lied, trying to act happy and Sirius hummed and nodded. But Remus had none of it.

"Why not?" He asked in concern and Harry took a deep breath.

"Because of everything that has happened. I thought it was obvious."

"And I thought, you loved Hogwarts no matter what."

"There's no Hogwarts without professor Dumbledore." Harry mumbled and Remus gave him a sad look.

"To try to cheer you up, we have some good news." Harry hummed with a sunken face as he showed some meat in his mouth. "I'll be the head of Gryffindor, and he..."

"And I'll teach Transfiguration since McGonagall is a new headmistress, while Snape’s back as your one and only Potion Master." Harry made an "o" face. He did not expect that. Not knowing what to do or how to respond to the given news, Harry stood up at once.

"I'll be at Ron's, see you, I guess at school, professors." And with that Harry Disapparated, leaving them as confused as never. But he didn't go where he said he will, because he didn't feel like it. He went to the only place he hoped will get some peace.

***

"Shut up." Harry spat out, the moment he was in the middle of the room where he knew, he would find him.

"I didn't say anything." Draco said with his nose dug in one of the books.

"You were about to." Draco sighed and turned his head to look at Harry. He scoffed and shook his head. Harry placed his trunk neatly against the wall, next to Draco’s trunk and put Hedwig’s cage on the wooden table. “You are free to go wherever you want.” He then let her go and she happily took off. Harry took a deep breath before he pulled on his hair in utter frustration. “EVERYTHING HAS BLOODY CHANGED!” Harry yelled in anger and threw the only book that was on the big wooden table, earning a bit angrier look from Draco.

"Care to explain." Harry didn't say anything, he just turned around and sat at the table. He dug his face in his hands and Draco sighed. "Right." Draco turned his head and went back to reading. Harry decided to have a look around the room Draco has possessed. The walls are a sickening, poison green shade with nothing on them, ugly green walls, accompanied by the dark wooden floor that didn’t match the rest of the room. The huge simple, darker than the flooring, wooden table with 11 wooden chairs took almost all the space in this small room. To his right, in the corner just a bit further away from the door lied a mattress with a blanket and a pillow, at the foot of it is Draco’s opened trunk with neatly folded stuff in it, and in the left corner Draco is sitting on the black plastic chair at the purplish plastic table. The small table is covered with books and parchments, so is the space around the table. Harry found himself looking curiously at the back of Draco’s head, wondering what is going on inside his head.

“What are you doing?” Harry suddenly asked surprising himself.

“Reading.” Draco simply replied showing no interested in talking to him.

“Reading what?” Harry asked curiously.

“A book, Potter. Is this conversation gonna go somewhere or you want to chit chat? Because, I really don’t want to chit chat, Potter!” Draco snapped and Harry nodded with a trace of hurt on his face.

“Sorry.” Harry mumbled and Draco scoffed. He angrily closed the book he was reading and turned on his chair to look at Harry. Harry noticed how unusually Draco looks. His natural sandy blonde hair all messy, his face unshaved and covered in rather dark facial hair, his baggy white shirt and baggish black jeans made him look like he is a homeless drunk and not a wizard from one of the wealthiest families in the whole wizarding world. When he looked even closer at the blond guy who once was his enemy and is his… not enemy…. Harry noticed how Draco’s blue eyes looked extremely sad and exhausted, how the dark circles formed around them, how his skin is paler than usual. Harry stopped to think and figured he looked sick. “Are you… I mean… Are you sick?” Harry asked in careful voice and Draco narrowed his eyebrows and shook his head. “Well, you look terrible.” Harry stated and Draco couldn’t hide the small smile that crept upon his lips.

“Thanks, Potter.” He failed to hide the small smile. “You look terrible too.” He teased and Harry rolled his eyes. The silence fell between them, and Draco cleared his throat. “So…”

“Well, are you sure you are not sick?”

“I’m a bloody wizard, Potter, and a good one too. If I were sick, I would know about it and cured myself immediately.” Harry for some reason didn’t believe a word Draco just said, because Harry knows a sick person when he sees one.

“Fine.” Harry said unimpressed in a bit of a harsh voice. If Draco doesn’t care about his health, Harry surely won’t start caring either. “What’s with the whole Potter thing again?” Draco smirked and evil smirk.

“That is your last name, isn’t it?” Harry nodded with a scoff followed by the eye rolling. “And besides, I thought you’ve said too much has bloody changed, or something like that. Just trying to keep you… satisfied.” Draco winked at Harry and Harry hid his face in his hands since he is pretty much sure, he is redder than the colour red in the Gryffindor flags. “Ah, blushing aren’t we, Potter?” Draco kept on teasing trying to lighten Harry up, or at least take his mind off whatever it is that is troubling him. Harry scoffed his face still hidden away as he then casually flipped Draco off. “Very generous offer, Potter, but with a heavy heart I will have to deny you the good time because I am really busy with the homework I didn’t manage to finish over the holidays.” Harry looked up at Draco who stopped smirking and got all serious. “Trust me, I am not making this up. Unless you gonna tell me what is bothering you, I…” Draco waited for a couple seconds and when Harry didn’t say anything, Draco nodded. “…yeah…” He said, turned around and got back to his book. Harry let out a loud frustrated sigh because Draco is now getting on his nerves with his incredible mood swings. One moment he is all joking and flirting next he is dead serious.

"McGonagall is new headmistress, Sirius is taking her place as Transfiguration teacher." Draco stopped reading and made an "o" face since he didn't expect this turn of events. " Lupin is a new head of Gryffindor house and Snape’s back in Potions." Harry spat all of it out in a great hurry while Draco slowly stood up from his chair and looked at Harry.

"And this is bad, why exactly?" He asked with great cautious. Harry sighed and shook his head. “I mean I get why Snape getting back in Potions is bad, but the rest, I thought you’d be happy. You adored Lupin, and now he is the head of your house too, your ex-head of the house is our new headmistress and there will be Sirius as well. So why the frowning face?” Draco remained still on his spot, leaning against the chair with his hands crossed on his chest.

"I don't actually know. It's just... too much I guess." Draco sighed and shook his head. He started slowly, very slowly walking towards the table where Harry was sitting with his face buried deep in his hands. "Things are changing too fast, and I don't like it. It almost looks like, they are happy he is dead." Draco gulped and sighed. "And, it's not fair. IT'S JUST NOT FAIR!" Harry yelled and jumped off his seat, startling Draco.

"Calm down!" Draco yelled as he saw how angry Harry is. "What's not fair?"

"HE IS DEAD BECAUSE OF ME. VOLDEMORT WAS AFTER ME..." Draco sighed and shook his head because this is reckless behaviour.

"Dumbledore protected you, he died so you could kill Voldemort, he died so you could live." Harry shook his head in frustration.

"One too many good people died for that cause. For me to live." Draco sighed and made one more small step closer to Harry. At this point, they are merely 10 centimetres away from each other. Draco carefully brought his hands up and put them on each of Harry's shoulders.

"It was the act of love, and you should be thankful to know how it feels to be loved more than life itself. No one forced any of those dead people to fight for you, to protect you. We did it, because we wanted to, not because, we had to." Harry looked up at Draco for the first time.

"I can't go back." He muttered and Draco narrowed his eyebrows in confusion, his hands still on Harry's shoulders.

"Go back?" He asked in a low confused voice.

"Hogwarts... I just can't, too many memories, bad memories." Draco sighed and shook his head.

"We will go back, and make new ones, good ones. You will have Lupin and Sirius with you all the time, Ron and Hermione, and Neville and Seamus and Dean. And, you know..." Draco blushed and looked at his feet, now it was Harry's turn to get confused. "Me, in case you will feel nostalgic, just snap at me, Potter, and I will be more than just glad to snap back at you. Tango." Draco whispered the last word and Harry actually crept a smile, sour smile, but a smile is still a smile, and Draco smiled back at him. They were looking at each other and leaning closer without noticing until both suddenly realized what is going on. Draco removed his hands from Harry's shoulder and took two big steps back. And Harry, Harry just stood there on his spot, kind of dazed. With a mumble, Draco got back to his little desk in the corner of the room and got back to reading, only he couldn't concentrate, all he could think about is, how he was millimetres away from kissing Harry while sober. Once Harry’s brain unfroze he started approaching Draco’s table.

“Can I help with something?” He asked suddenly only a couple of millimetres away from Draco. Draco shook his head and kept on reading _All the Known Spells and Charms to Keep You Safe_. Harry cocked an eyebrow as he caught a glimpse of what Draco was reading. “We both know that the cloaking charm isn’t homework.” Harry hissed in anger because Draco has lied to him.

“It actually is, haven’t you read your Hogwarts letter?” Harry nodded with a confused look. “This book is an additional book for our Charms class since we’ve pretty much covered the whole _The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 7_ book the last year.” Harry nodded and scratched his head thinking how he could possibly have forgotten about it. “And Cloaking spell is what I’ve picked for our assignment.” Harry nodded with a shaky smile as he could not remember for a world what he picked and if he even did it. “Seriously, what is up with you?” Harry shook his head and casually walked back to the wooden table, trying not to panic. He then decided to check if he actually did the homework or not. He opened his trunk and rummaged through it until he came upon his own copy of the _All the Known Spells and Charms to Keep You Safe_. He then saw a parchment attached to the book and carefully unroll it. Harry sighed in relief as he saw he has done it, apparently, he wrote about the Shield Charm. He read what he has written and still couldn’t remember when or how he has done it, but it was there written in his own writing. Harry put the book and the parchment back in his trunk and tried to act casually. The rest of the evening went in almost complete silence. When the time came, Draco went to sleep, and Harry stayed up the whole night since the sleep just wouldn't kick in. He remained at the table, thinking, remembering and trying to forget one too many things at ones.


	7. The Train, the Thestral and the Dinner

As the first rays of the sun started creeping in the room, Harry stood up and took off. By the time Draco woke up, Harry got back with breakfast for both of them and some owl treats for Hedwig who got back sometimes during the night, startling Harry almost to death. Draco with his hair in an even worse state than yesterday walked towards the big wooden table and his tired eyes fell on the food placed on it. He gave Harry a funny look and opened his mouth.

"Shut up and eat." Harry cut him off and Draco did as he was told with a smile on his face. There was bacon, and eggs, toast and coffee. "Black and strong." Pointed at the cup to go and Draco hummed in happiness. "I'm off to the platform." Draco hummed his mouth full of delicious food.

Ron, Hermione and Harry decided to take the train to school instead of Apparition (it was announced only to a couple of special seventh-year students that Apparition is now indeed doable inside the property of Hogwarts, of course, all for the safety reason. Every student and every teacher who knows how to Apparate and is of age now can Apparate on Hogwarts property, but only a handful of students know of the new improvement. Headmistress decided so to keep students from pranking each other and doing who knows what, only most trusted and well-behaved students were told about Apparition) much to Ron's disliking, since he has the fear of Hogwarts Express ever since dementors nearly killed Harry. They met on the 9 3/4 platform as they planned to. Harry tried his best to avoid any questions about the wedding and their honeymoon since he pretty much disappeared after he gave Hermione her present and he really didn't want to hear anything about their honeymoon. They promised him, they are not mad at him for bailing out and asked him for the explanation. He didn't know what to say since he himself didn't know why he left, so he lied saying he was tired, which was in one hand part truth. He passed Remus and Sirius who were getting on the train as well and without any acknowledgement, Harry stormed in the first empty compartment he saw at the very end of the train to avoid as many people as possible. Ron and Hermione came a couple of minutes later after they've said their goodbyes to Mr and Mrs Weasley and Mr and Mrs Granger, and greeted their friends, they hadn't seen since the wedding.

"What's the matter with you, Harry?" Hermione asked with concern.

"Nothing. I'm fine." Harry shrugged it off.

"He's fine." Ron mouthed to Hermione who rolled her eyes.

"No, you are not!" She raised her voice. Harry didn't want to talk about it or about anything. He just wanted to be left alone, since lately, he had barely any time to think.

"Just leave me alone." He said with his eyes fixed on many first-year students who were happy to hop on the train and excited to attend the school. He found himself smiling at one little girl who was making faces as her mother kissed her cheek. She kind of reminded him of himself. The hair and the glasses, and her snowy owl. Her owl is very pretty and very young from what Harry could see, or perhaps it's just small like she is. Either way, her owl is very beautiful. Next to her and her family was another one. A little light brown or dark blonde boy, Harry couldn't tell the colour, was accompanied by a man who didn't look old enough to be his father, so Harry assumed he is boy's brother. The boy is posh, you could see by the way he stands and by the way he is dressed. He held his black cat in his hands while the older one who was explaining something to him, it was probably something boring since the boy every now and then looked behind him at the train. That's when Harry saw his eyes, as blue as his. And he knew it, deep down inside him, this little boy is related to him. Now, the hair colour makes so much sense and the posh posture and the clothes, everything.

"Harry!!! Have you heard a word I've just said!?" Hermione yelled bringing Harry back from his thought. He sighed and stood up. Without a word he left them alone and headed somewhere where he'll be left alone for five damn minutes. He made his way towards the front of the train with his hood on his head, to make sure no one will recognize him or want to talk to him. In one of the emptier compartments, Harry felt like someone is staring at him. He turned around and caught him staring.

"She got on your nerves, didn't she?" He asked with a smug face and Harry turned around without a word. "Sit down." He said and Harry stopped to think about his offer. This is probably as good as it can be. Since he is sure as long as he sits here, he'll be fine and he'll have the time to think. But, he won't be able to think about anything, but the person sitting next to him. Without further overthinking Harry slipped inside the compartment and sat on the seat in front of Draco. And just as he thought, his mind became occupied with Draco. The way his eyes still look sad and tired, the fact that he is all alone, the fact that he changed his hair colour, the fact that he smells like a mixture of cigarettes and mint. "Stop, just stop." He said after a minute of silence. "I can feel the wheels turning in your head. How many times will I have to tell you, you think way too much. It's not good for anyone." Draco said looking out the window and taking in as much of the landscape as possible. He saw all of it before, but always, no matter how many times he takes the ride, it feels like he sees everything for the first time. Harry didn't say anything to his remarkable comment, he didn't even think about moving away. "Anyways thank you for the breakfast.” Draco looked away from the window and met Harry’s eyes. Draco smiled. “I managed to get some money from the bank, but not a lot. Next breakfast is on me.” Draco winked and Harry smiled with a blush on his face. “ Oh and I’m thinking about buying a house, or something. You reckon the goblins will let me take that much money out of the bank?” Draco said with a serious face and Harry shrugged his shoulders.

“Can’t you bring as much as you own?” Draco shook his head.

“Not at ones, I think. I’ve heard that someone was turned into a beetle while they tried to get out of the bank more than they were allowed.”

“You can always go to the bank and ask.” Draco hummed and then nodded.

“I suppose I can, I just hope, they won’t jinx me or something.”

“They are not the nicest, but they are not that brutal.” Draco made a face between agreeing and doubting. “So the money is yours?” Draco opened then closed his mouth, thinking whether he should share this information with Harry or not. But, once Draco saw the way Harry is looking at him, Draco gave in.

“I don’t give a rats ass about that money, I have a vault of my own, been saving for 10 years or something, you know the birthdays and such.” Harry nodded.

“And such?” He asked with a cocked eyebrow and Draco sighed and closed his eyes with a light blush creeping upon his pale face.

“Been working behind… his back. Earning my own money. I’ve heard Muggles do it, so I tried it, got the muggle money and changed it into wizarding money. Don’t know if I have enough for a house yet, but I really hope I will be able to get enough by the end of the year. I don’t plan to live in a Shrieking Shack anymore.” Harry gaped in a shock because he did not expect that answer. “And Potter, dare making fun of me, tell this to a living or dead soul and I will curse you.” Harry tried to hide a smile from seeing Draco so unlike himself, but not the mocking smile, in contrary a fond smile.

“I think that’s pretty darn awesome.” Draco tried to hide a smile as well and all of a sudden the moving nature outside was very interesting and entertaining.

“You won’t ask more questions? Make fun of me?”

“Do you want me to ask more questions about it? And I don’t plan to make fun of anyone who has enough guts to earn fair money.”

“No, I don’t. And thank you, Potter. I really mean it, thank you.”

“Then there’s your answer.” Harry sighed and pulled his hair in a bit of frustration since he is still pretty cooked up and needs some peace and quiet, but being here with Draco, has a good effect on him. And just like Draco read his mind he started talking.

“I suppose you ran in hopes of getting some peace and quiet. Just look out the window and you will find yourself relaxing. I promise I will shut up.” He said with a smile and Harry did as suggested. And he hates to admit, but he was right. It is somehow very relaxing. The way the trees look like they are moving, the way rooftops colour change with every blink. Everything was very calming and Harry started to doze off, but he stopped himself from falling asleep and instead of looking out the window he looked at Draco only to find him already looking at him.

"What happened with your hair?" Harry finally asked the thing that was bugging him ever since he saw Draco. Draco smirked and dragged his long fingers through his almost platinum blond hair.

"Gotta keep up with old habits." Draco winked at Harry and Harry made a face.

"Well, I don't like it that way." Harry said with a small pout making Draco smile in adoration.

“I guess Potter, you will have to suc…” And just then Pansy and Blaise decided to show up. Harry jumped up from his seat ready to get put but Pansy was blocking the door.

"Hey there, Harry and Draco." Pansy said in very cheerful voice sharing a knowing look with Blaise, who tried to hide the smile. Harry then awkwardly excused himself and managed to squeeze out the compartment. He wasn't sure where those two had been this whole time since they are moving for the past 15 minutes or so, but they couldn’t possibly pick a worse time to show up. With a sigh and a lot of disappointment, Harry got back to Ron and Hermione feeling a bit less angry than he was when he stormed out.

"I'm sorry. I still get those panic attacks because of dementors." Harry lied again and they seemed to believe him. He sat down next to Ron and sighed.

"I've heard we are getting new students even thou none of us finished our years." Hermione said out of the blue, to break that awkward and tense silence.

"Oh, yes. Remus said something about it. They made the call at the last minute. They didn't plan on taking any new students to avoid overcrowding. But, professor McGonagall wanted new students so they went with it. Or something like that. Apparently newbies will merge with the current first year and we will repeat the seventh year with some advanced lessons, since we’ve pretty much covered a lot of the usual things" Harry said scratching the back of his head, he really doesn't want to talk about school, but he went with it because he doesn't want to come out as unsocial.

The rest of the ride was spent in making small meaningless chitchats and Harry was OK with that, for as long as they didn't have to talk about the school, the wedding and the honeymoon. They got out of the train at ones and saw nervous new students were being led by Hagrid into the boats for the traditional ride. Harry walked towards one of the carriages pulled by the Thestral, skeletal horse-like creature only seen by people who've seen death. That would explain all the gasping coming from many students who fought in the war.

“So this is how they look like. Interesting.” Draco said in a small voice as he passed Harry and continued walking with Pansy next to him and Blaise next to her. Harry opened than closed his mouth as Draco must have seen the death during the war, so he shook the thoughts away. He climbed in the carriage with Ron and Hermione already in and Neville on his tale. Harry smiled at him and they shook hands followed by the hug.

"How come I haven't seen you on the train?" Harry asked in a confused but happy voice not noticing that Neville came from the school direction.

"Couple of us stayed here for the most of the summer and helped around." Harry's mouth opened wide in surprise. "Professor McGonagall made sure that none of you, meaning you, Ron or Hermione know anything about this." Neville cut him off. "She knew you'd be here the whole summer working and you needed some time out of here. You needed one peaceful summer." Neville said and Harry gave up on putting up the fight.

“You were already at the school, why bother with all of this?” Harry gestured around with his hands.

“Tradition. We didn’t want to confuse new students.” Harry nodded and Neville smiled at him. They rode off to the school in complete silence.

***

Once they were in the Great Hall they sat at the Gryffindor table in utter and complete silence. Ron was on Harry's right side, Hermione sat next to Ron and on Harry's left side was Neville who seemed a bit odd. Harry couldn’t wait for someone from the professors to start talking since Ron tried to make small chitchats and Harry just wanted to go into his four-poster bed. Harry glanced at the professor’s table in wonder. He saw that Sirius and Remus are sitting next to each other. He saw that all the heads of houses are seated next to each other, on McGonagall’s left is professor Sprout and next to her Snape, while on McGonagall’s right is professor Flitwick and Lupin next to him, while next to him is non-other than Sirius. The situation was almost comical. Remus passionately explaining something to sick looking Sirius, while professor Flitwick tried not to laugh, while on the other side Sirius looked as always angry and unimpressed while professor Sprout was trying to talk to him.  Once everyone settled in professor McGonagall stood up.

"Welcome students. New ones and old ones. We all know what has happened in this school this year. And therefore, there will be new rules. As you might have already seen, our last year's 7th-year students are still with us. Which means you all shall repeat your years. As you may also have seen we have new students. New students will join the old ones in year one and therefore make a brand new a bit bigger class. Since this is a pretty delicate situation, and to award the whole seventh year for their remarkable work and their endless love for Hogwarts and Professor Dumbledore, you won't have the curfew anymore. Just the seventh year, the rest of you are not old enough. The seventh year will be allowed to walk around the school at any time they want without being expelled but be warned any funny business and you will be taken that privilege." Her eyes dropped to Slytherin. "There are no restricted areas anymore for the seventh year either. Which doesn’t mean we will be too pleased if you come back from Forbidden Forest with a couple of the limbs missing." She stopped for a moment to glare at the Slytherin table again and then continued. "Then we'll have professor Lupin back for the defence against the dark arts, and professor Snape resigned from the headmaster position to go back to teaching Potions. And old students know I was teaching Transfiguration, but since I was voted new headmaster, my place as a Transfiguration professor will take professor Sirius Black, who has been stripped off any accusations, his record whipped clean as a special gift after everything he has done for all of us." Sirius stood up with the sour face and waved awkwardly at the students. "Finally, before the Sorting ceremony, one more news. With me as a headmaster, Gryffindor has lost their head of the house, and the new head of Gryffindor house is said Professor Lupin." Lupin stood up with more grace and energy then Sirius. He waved at the students with a warm smile. "That was professor Remus Lupin. As for the quidditch for the seventh year, unfortunately, we haven't discussed that yet, what I mean to say, we have but we haven't made any decision. We shall do that soon, and we will inform you as soon as it will be done. Until then mister Potter and Mister Malfoy will remain captains of their teams, but will not participate in any official games." To which Harry sighed in disbelief. Ron placed his hand on Harry's shoulder and gave it a light squeeze.

"At least you will be involved." Harry knew this is as good as it can get for now, since everyone has much more important matters to discuss and focus.

"Now, we'll have the Sorting ceremony, after which I will have a couple more words and then the feast." Professor McGonagall said and students clapped.

Couple dozen of scared looking 11-year-olds are grouped in front of the sorting hat. To most of the students' surprise, Snape was doing the reading of names and holding the ceremony.

"Poor kids, they'll be scared from the very beginning." Harry heard Ron not so silently whisper to Hermione. Both Harry and Hermione had the same idea to smack the back of Ron's head, to which he wimped and gave both a very nasty look. The ceremony went on, and on, and on. It almost seemed like it's taking forever. Harry made sure to look out for those two kids he saw at the train station. The little girl and her snowy owl and the blue-eyed boy and his cat. First from those two was the girl and Harry was happy to finally learn her name, Sky McLaughlin, she ended up in the Slytherin house to Harry's surprise. From what he saw, she gave out more of Luna's charms, but the hat knows what is doing. And right after her came the blue-eyed boy. Harry also learned his name as well, Timothy Omeyer.

"Today is just not my day." Harry mumbled after the boy, he was sure was related to Malfoy, was sorted in Gryffindor. Ron turned his head towards Harry.

"Huh?" He asked confused not knowing what Harry meant by that. Harry just shook his head with his eyes fixed on the small boy shyly walking towards their table.

"Just give him some room." Harry finally said, stood up and went to greet the boy and invite him to sit next to him.

"Hey there. My name's..."

"Potter..." The boy said using the tone that Harry is way too familiar with. He gave the boy a confused look, who just rolled his eyes and went to sit on Harry's spot. Harry was left standing in the middle of the hallway. Some students who witnessed the situation started talking about it, some giggled and some even made some nasty comments about both of them. Harry then caught Malfoy's eyes on him and a smirk on his face. And Harry was more than sure that Timothy, the little boy, was related to Malfoy, somehow. Maybe they don't share the last name, but they are surely related.

"Mister Potter, do you mind?" Professor McGonagall asked all of the sudden and Harry then realized that the sorting was over and he has been standing on the spot for who knows how long. He just shook his head and went to sit at the very beginning of the table between excided 11 year-olds.

"You're Harry Potter. Guys, this is Harry Potter. The Harry Potter. And he's sitting right next to me." Some girl said and Harry smiled through teeth.

"Yes, yes, I am, and you need to listen." He said in a calm and soft voice. They all listened and started concentrating on what professor McGonagall was saying. She introduced all teachers to new students, gave a little bit of history, explained some common rules and then started talking about the war. In the middle of the speech, one new Ravenclaw student stood up and interrupted Professor McGonagall who had a very furious face.

"Maybe we should have a minute of silence for all those brave souls who died protecting this castle. It's how you pay your respect in the muggle world." After she said those words, there was complete silence, even the ghosts froze. The little girl gave a weak smile before she sat back down.

"We shall do that." Remus said from his seat and then stood up. "Come on everyone, on your feet." Every single student stood up. "Put your hands together, bow your heads and think nice things about all who gave their lives so we could be here today." And just like actual magic, everyone, even everyone in Slytherin listened to what Remus said.  


 


	8. Neville, Butterbeers and Beers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late update :/  
> Anyways thank you for your amazing support

After they’ve eaten, Harry was ready to go to his dorm room and get to the bed, feeling exhausted, but Neville stopped him.

“Could I speak with you?” He asked sounding a bit odd and nervous to Harry, but Harry shrugged it off and nodded. “Let’s go to the Greenhouse.” With a cocked eyebrow, Harry nodded and started following Neville.

“What’s going on?” Neville shook his head with a shy smile on his face.

“Not here.” Harry was getting more and more suspicious with every step made because Neville is acting all sorts of weird even for himself. They came in the Greenhouse and Harry gasped at how different and beautiful it looked. With many colourful plants, and gorgeous flowers, odd-looking fruits. “Tell me about Paris.” Harry was snapped out of his thought by the sudden question.

“What?”

“I know, you’ve hung out with Malfoy there. Just tell me. You’ll feel better after you talk to someone about it. I can see you’ve been under a lot of stress.”

“And how do you know, this is Paris related?” Neville smiled at him and Harry rolled his eyes. “So, was it your boyfriend and girlfriend who told you about Paris?” Neville gave him a very nasty look. “What?”

“It was actually your boyfriend since we are slapping each other with words, who told me. Didn’t go into details, but he said something unexpected happened.” Harry sighed and decided to tell him maybe he will feel a little better if he talked to someone who isn’t Draco.

“Tell a living soul about this, and I will hex you.” To which Neville smiled, because that was the same thing Draco has told him. Harry took a deep breath before he started talking about Paris.

***Couple weeks ago in Paris***

"I CAN'T TAKE THIS ANYMORE!!!" Harry yelled as he stormed out of HIS hotel room where Sirius was so kindly spending most of his time, to check up on him and annoy him to death. After one of their many useless and stupid fights, Harry stormed out of the hotel room without bothering to explain himself.

"MERLIN'S BEARD!!!" Sirius yelled in frustration.

"It's not like you didn't have it coming." Remus pointed out doing his usual job of making sure those two won't kill each other by accident. Harry ran down the hallway to get out of the hotel; to get as far away from annoying Sirius as possible. He found himself standing in the middle of the muggle street just outside the wizard world entrance and sighed as it felt good to feel the light breeze on his face. He didn't know where to go, he just knew he needs to get away from Sirius for a bit. Lately, they've been at each other's throats more than usual. And no one from the three of them understands why is that so. If something, Remus is the one who is usually snappy and ready to pick a fight. At the end of the day, Remus is the werewolf and Sirius is just a giant black dog, a grim to be exact. From all that thinking Harry didn't realize that he started walking towards the Eiffel Tower.

Harry sat down on one of the few empty benches and started looking up at the tower, not thinking about anything in particular. It just amuses him how many things the wizarding world can make and cover it up, like building this tower, it makes him wonder what else have they done and cover-up.

"Potter?!" Harry heard all too familiar and very annoying voice. He thought he might be imagining things since he is lost in his thoughts. "POTTER!!!" He was forced to look up and much to his surprise there was someone to his right. Someone who is one of the most unexpected surprises. Just when Harry thought this day couldn't get any worse. There stood clear as day Draco Malfoy. Harry gasped when he saw Malfoy. He gasped because of more than just a surprise. He expected to see Malfoy's stupid bleached hair, and annoyed look accompanied by the smirk and some unnecessary sarcastic comment. But instead, Harry saw nice natural looking blonde hair that screamed anti-Malfoy, and Harry for a split second thought it suits him way much better than the bleached catastrophe, and instead of his stupid blue dull eyes, Harry saw that they look bluer than usual (not that Harry pays much attention to Malfoy's eyes, he really doesn't, it's just something he usually (DOESN'T) notices on people) and much sadder than usual. And not to mention his face that is not clean shaved, but has a beard that makes him... Harry shook his head before he starts thinking way much stupider things than he already is. This is still Malfoy. No matter what.

"Malfoy." Harry kept the dull voice trying to sound annoying. Draco sat down next to Harry without bothering to ask for permission. "Sure, do sit down."

"It's not like you own this bench." Draco snapped back at Harry. "What brings you here, Potter?"

"Stupid vacation, you?" Harry didn't know why he answered him or even asked about his reason since he couldn't possibly care less about Malfoy and his stupid reasons.

"Family." He gave him a short answer, feeling kind of hurt (not that he would ever admit that) from the sudden coldness that came from Potter. Draco really did think that they've passed their useless fights and stupid bickering. "Why so bitter, Potter? I thought we passed all that shit?" Draco found himself asking and Harry gave him the look.

"You are the one who started it." Harry lied feeling way too annoyed to deal with Malfoy.

"Liar." Draco simply stated, and Harry sighed in annoyance. "I thought you hate lying."

"And I thought you didn't care about me." Harry said sounding much more bitter than he would like. "So, we are two for two. Anything else?" Draco didn't know how to respond to this. This was after all the Potter he knows very well, but this is also the Potter he hadn't seen in ages, and it kind of concerns him. But, Draco knows better than ask him about it, since they haven't reached that point. Not yet.

"Are you up for a butterbeer?" Draco asked instead, trying to ease the tension. Harry gave him the look of confusion and Draco smirked. "You do know that every single capital has the wizarding world, don't you Potter?" Harry, in fact, did know that since he is staying in the hotel that has a secret entrance to the wizarding world. But, he really didn't understand why would Malfoy ask him that, and why he would go for a butterbeer with him. "It's not like I'm calling you for meaningless fuck. Calm your tits, Potter." And Harry gave him one more surprised look since he is not used to hearing Malfoy cuss all that much. "So? You going or not?" And God only knows what had gotten into Harry to reply with the next line.

"For the butterbeer or the fuck?" Draco was taken aback just a little, since he knew all along that Potter had that side in him, after all, he was a Slytherin in the heart whether he liked it or not. He is not blaming the cussing on Slytherin, but it's good to know that Potter is not as Saint as he presents himself.

"It doesn't matter, because I'm pretty sure that both have the same answer." Draco said with smirk giving Harry a playful look. "Same positive answer." Draco said with dark chuckle making Harry blush like mad. Usually Harry would try to punch him, but he really doesn't feel like it, not now. Draco stood up from the bench laughing so hard that he started crying, because Potter's face was priceless. Once he managed to stop laughing like crazy he offered his right hand to Harry, who was still trying to wrap his thoughts around the previous scene. "Coming?" Draco said making sure that the word sounded as sexual and as dirty as it was possible. This time Harry didn't gasp because he kind of expected something like this. He rolled his eyes and stood up from the bench without Draco's help. "Oh, c'mon Potter, don't tell me you are falling out of my spell." He faked the cry of hurt mixed with disappointment.

"Let's go before I change my mind." Draco didn't say anything, he just smiled and followed Harry. Draco chose to be behind, so he can take advantage of the situation and creep at Harry's ass, that looks very nice in those jeans, Draco must add.

They've entered the first wizarding pub Harry saw while walking around the crowded street. Once they were in, both looked around to look for an empty table. They shared a look once they saw it's either barstools at the bar itself or the booth with dimmed lights at the back of the pub. They didn't have to say a word. Instantly they started walking their way towards the cheesy booth. Harry sat down on the bench and Draco made a face when he saw the state of the chair he was supposed to sit on. Harry moved to the right as close to the wall as possible for Malfoy to sit down. Without thinking twice and thanking everyone he could for this opportunity Draco carefully sat next to Harry. Since the bench is rather small, Draco was almost sitting on Harry's lap, making both of them unusually happy, but they would never admit that maybe Draco would, but Harry would rather die than admit anything. Although, Harry must admit, that having Malfoy on his lap would be probably much more comfortable than being squished to the wall.

"This won't work." Harry cried out having the urge to say something anything in fact.

"Of course, it will. Now shush." Draco said with a smirk as he raised his hand with pointing finger up in the air. In a matter of seconds, there was a house-elf standing in front of the table.

"Welcome to Mon Cherrie Petite. Blah-blah-blah. What do you want?" The elf asked with a strong French accent and almost zero will to live.

"2 cold Butterbeers." Malfoy barked an order, and elf rolled his eyes with mumbling of course. He snapped his fingers and in the next second two butterbeers were on the table.

"6 Sickles." The elf said with his hand in front of him. Malfoy growled at the price, since it's ridiculous to raise the prize of the butterbeer for one sickle. While he was checking his pockets for the money and making sure that he touches Harry as much as possible Harry had already payed 10 Sickles to the elf, leaving him 4 sickles as a tip that he did not earn, but Harry knows how hard it is to be someone's slave. And elf vanished without even a thank you or a smile.

"I was about to pay." Draco protested, and Harry rolled his eyes.

"No, you were touching me as much as possible while pretending you are searching for the money."

"No, I just can't find the damn money." Draco tried to protest.

"Yeah, whatever you say."

"Shut up and drink." Draco gave up since Potter already had his own story and his own ideas up in his mind. They drank their drinks in complete and utter silence with Draco taking all the advantages from this situation. He made sure that he touched Harry as much as he could (he did not count that their legs were touching). He wanted to touch with hands as weird as it sounds, and he did. Harry acknowledged the whole touching thing but said nothing. That was the problem with the two of them. They only knew how to tease and insult each other. They just don't know how to have a normal conversation, yet. One butterbeer turned into another and another and another. They drank until it was Draco who said he is going to be sick from all the sugar.

"Come!!!" Draco took Harry's hand in his and started running out of the pub and out of then out of the wizard part of the Paris. Harry found himself tripping couple of times due to his clumsiness and the fact that Draco has indeed a bit longer legs than he does. But, Draco made sure that Harry was on his feet and not on his face. Draco entered the first muggle pub he saw and showed Harry inside.

"Do the muggle thing." Draco hissed in his ear and Harry could smell butterbeer all over him.

"What?"

"Make an order or whatever muggles do."

"What do you want?" Harry whispered for no reason whatsoever.

"Anything that isn't sugary.”

“Helpful.” Harry mumble getting annoyed.

“I do believe that muggle beer is pretty tasty." Draco said and Harry nodded.

"Okay." Harry kept his low voice. He pointed at the empty table and Draco went there while he went at the bar to make an order."Bonjour. Puis-e avoir deux bières, s'il vous plait?" Harry asked not being sure if he even asked it right since he does not speak any French. He heard Remus saying something that sounded something like that.

"I do speak English." The blonde waitress said with soft and a bit flirty smile.

"Oh, great. Can I get two beers, please?" Harry asked in relief turning his head around to check on Draco. And he nodded when he saw that he just sitting at the table looking a bit sick. "Oh and glass of water, please."

"Sure, what brand?" She asked with a smile while pouring the water in the glass.

"Erm..." Harry looked at the fridge and saw many too many choices. Half of the beers he didn't even know how to pronounce. "Something that isn't too bitter and not sweet as well." Harry said not knowing what else to do. So far he has tasted only one beer and wasn't too happy about it.

"I think I know what to give you." She smiled at him once again and Harry rolled his eyes, being way too annoyed by her attempt to flirt with him.

"Bring it to the table with that blonde guy in a striped shirt." Harry said pointing at Draco and she nodded. He ignored her flirting as well as he could and got to the table where Draco was sitting and looking very sick. "Are you going to be sick?" Harry asked in disgust as he tried to cover up his concern. Draco didn't say a word he just nodded with a bit greenish face. Harry sighed and took him by the arm and dragged him into toilette. He dumped him in and made sure there is no one in the bathroom. Harry took out his wand and did the spell to make him feel better.

"You really can't take your sugar, can you?" Harry asked in mocking voice making Draco growl.

"Oh, fuck off, Potter." Draco hissed and started walking out of the bathroom.

"A simple thank you would work just fine!!!" Harry yelled after him. He stayed in the bathroom for couple more seconds to collect his thoughts and feelings and returned to the table where Draco was already gulping down on his beer. They drank their first beer in silence and in no time. So Draco orders another one and after that another. And they drank once again until they felt like they are going to be sick. In the end, they ended up drunk in Paris. What could possibly go wrong?

***

The moment Harry has finished his story about what sort of happened in Paris, obviously leaving the bigger part for himself, within a second Neville with his mouth wide open and completely pale in his face stormed out of Gryffindor's common room like his life depends on it. Harry sighed in disbelief thinking what would have happened if he told him the rest of the story, about what happened after they left the pub in the muggle side of Paris. He didn't try to stop him or anything, knowing very well that this was a lot to comprehend. He decided to get back to his studying.

 


End file.
